Anyone here walk away from a "good" college and still do something worthwhile?

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Brackis

Originally posted by: JEDI
how is this thread like catcher in the rye ?

I'm a lonely white kid from a good background who is performing mediocre in school even though I'm narcissistic in believing I'm a genius, while everyone else is just a phony.

so basicialy you are a pathetic waste of space who woudl be better off dead

you suck just like that book did

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Brackis

Originally posted by: JEDI
how is this thread like catcher in the rye ?

I'm a lonely white kid from a good background who is performing mediocre in school even though I'm narcissistic in believing I'm a genius, while everyone else is just a phony.

so basicialy you are a pathetic waste of space who woudl be better off dead

you suck just like that book did

In my current state, yep. I've done many productive things in my life, but my lack of productive currently is very unnerving.
Ever thought of psychology as a profession?

 

[computeerrgghh]

I would get out of Bobb man, its a rough dorm. As for volunteering, were you at the activity fair? Habitat for Humanity has lots of trips into Chicago. I think on November 2nd they are going to paint apartments and on the 11th there is a build site in Waukegan.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: computeerrgghh
I would get out of Bobb man, its a rough dorm. As for volunteering, were you at the activity fair? Habitat for Humanity has lots of trips into Chicago. I think on November 2nd they are going to paint apartments and on the 11th there is a build site in Waukegan.

Yeah I was at the activity fair and have been involved with Habitat. The politics of getting volunteer opportunities with the local affiliate just frustrates me, in addition to many of the volunteer opportunities relying on lengthy commutes that make it difficult for me to find something that involves weeknight youth related comm serve =(

 

[boredhokie]

I say you should drop out of college and stick to gluing furniture together. Or be a plumber! There's lots of opportunities for someone who isn't quite smart enough to realize he's wasting his life. You can even work at Dominoes while spending your weekends bitching about how college is for losers! fun!

 

[homestarmy]

Don't worry, you have a rich family. You will never really need to accomplish anything.

I'd like to be spoiled like you.

Boo hoo, it's too loud, I'm so smart but no one wants to give me a good grade.

Shut up, drop out, live off your parents while you work at Starbucks.

Go cry, emo kid.

 

[homestarmy]

BTW, can I have your grandparents' number? I'd like to ask if when you drop out if they'll support me while I go for a PhD and actually do something useful with my life.

And I think I figured out why you like the Habitat for Humanity, etc. You like to help people as lazy and useless as yourself to get a handout so they could be just as lazy as yourself. What a role model.

 

[Maximilian]

Dorky roommates suck huh, i was stuck with 4 of them, ruined my 2nd year of uni, hate them with a passion.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: homestarmy
BTW, can I have your grandparents' number? I'd like to ask if when you drop out if they'll support me while I go for a PhD and actually do something useful with my life.

And I think I figured out why you like the Habitat for Humanity, etc. You like to help people as lazy and useless as yourself to get a handout so they could be just as lazy as yourself. What a role model.

If you knew the business model of Habitat you'd realize what an ass you look like.

 

[swtethan]

ask Bill Gates

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: boredhokie
I say you should drop out of college and stick to gluing furniture together. Or be a plumber! There's lots of opportunities for someone who isn't quite smart enough to realize he's wasting his life. You can even work at Dominoes while spending your weekends bitching about how college is for losers! fun!

Yeah, it's not like plumbers make good money or anything :disgust:

 

[ponyo]

Hello fellow Wildcat! I'm a Northwestern alum. Graduated in '97 with BA in Econ.

I see things haven't changed much in Evanston.

My experience was similar to yours the first year. Had a terrible roommate first year and of course had to suffer through all those BS prereq classes. One or two midterm and final is standard. Makes it convenient since you only have to go to class on the first day, midterm, and final. I actually wanted to transfer after my freshman year but my parents wanted me to stick it out. The next three years wasn't as bad.

The El will take you anywhere you want to go in Chicago so I don't see a problem. You don't have to stay in Evanston all the time.

Football team won back to back Big Ten championship while I was there so football was fun. I think I had a class with Pat Fitzerald who's now the head coach.

I had a good friend who transferred to Stanford while I was there. He enjoyed it more academically but I don't think his social or personal life was better.

NU has really active Greek system. I think over 50% of the students belonged to some sort of Frat/Sora while I was there. I assume that hasn't changed. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it but I was believe it was bad.

Weather freaking bites up there in the winter. Makes it depressing. People who studied at the Core depressed me too.

My advice to you is to use the career/placement center starting your freshman year and start applying for internships for the summer early. Stay active and enjoy everything offered to you. NU is a great school and has vast resources. You just have to take advantage of what's offered.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Dorky roommates suck huh, i was stuck with 4 of them, ruined my 2nd year of uni, hate them with a passion.

How did this affect your overall college career?

My issue is that because he is so incapable of social interaction or activity outside of his laptop, that I don't have that one good buddy who I can hang with in the process of meeting other friends. Obersving the first week or two of college, people generally do things with their roommate, while I didn't. The fact that the other folks on the hall are not pleasant to converse with, I am left with a lack of healthy socialization outside of going to weekend parties sometimes with some folks who live on the other end of campus.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Hello fellow Wildcat! I'm a Northwestern alum. Graduated in '97 with BA in Econ.

I see things haven't changed much in Evanston.

My experience was similar to yours the first year. Had a terrible roommate first year and of course had to suffer through all those BS prereq classes. One or two midterm and final is standard. Makes it convenient since you only have to go to class on the first day, midterm, and final. I actually wanted to transfer after my freshman year but my parents wanted me to stick it out. The next three years wasn't as bad.

The El will take you anywhere you want to go in Chicago so I don't see a problem. You don't have to stay in Evanston all the time.

Football team won back to back Big Ten championship while I was there so football was fun. I think I had a class with Pat Fitzerald who's now the head coach.

I had a good friend who transferred to Stanford while I was there. He enjoyed it more academically but I don't think his social or personal life was better.

NU has really active Greek system. I think over 50% of the students belonged to some sort of Frat/Sora while I was there. I assume that hasn't changed. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it but I was believe it was bad.

Weather freaking bites up there in the winter. Makes it depressing. People who studied at the Core depressed me too.

My advice to you is to use the career/placement center starting your freshman year and start applying for internships for the summer early. Stay active and enjoy everything offered to you. NU is a great school and has vast resources. You just have to take advantage of what's offered.

Thanks for the input. I realize it's early in the year and the more I convince myself I'm miserable, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you said about going to class for the first day, midterm, and final is what bothers me. Because that is essentially not taking the class at all and learning out of a book. In that case I'd be better off taking correspondence courses and saving a lot of $. I want to go to class and have what the professor says not only benefit my learning, but be rewarded with a better grade reflected.

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: Brackis

Originally posted by: Naustica
Hello fellow Wildcat! I'm a Northwestern alum. Graduated in '97 with BA in Econ.

I see things haven't changed much in Evanston.

My experience was similar to yours the first year. Had a terrible roommate first year and of course had to suffer through all those BS prereq classes. One or two midterm and final is standard. Makes it convenient since you only have to go to class on the first day, midterm, and final. I actually wanted to transfer after my freshman year but my parents wanted me to stick it out. The next three years wasn't as bad.

The El will take you anywhere you want to go in Chicago so I don't see a problem. You don't have to stay in Evanston all the time.

Football team won back to back Big Ten championship while I was there so football was fun. I think I had a class with Pat Fitzerald who's now the head coach.

I had a good friend who transferred to Stanford while I was there. He enjoyed it more academically but I don't think his social or personal life was better.

NU has really active Greek system. I think over 50% of the students belonged to some sort of Frat/Sora while I was there. I assume that hasn't changed. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it but I was believe it was bad.

Weather freaking bites up there in the winter. Makes it depressing. People who studied at the Core depressed me too.

My advice to you is to use the career/placement center starting your freshman year and start applying for internships for the summer early. Stay active and enjoy everything offered to you. NU is a great school and has vast resources. You just have to take advantage of what's offered.

Thanks for the input. I realize it's early in the year and the more I convince myself I'm miserable, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you said about going to class for the first day, midterm, and final is what bothers me. Because that is essentially not taking the class at all and learning out of a book. In that case I'd be better off taking correspondence courses and saving a lot of $. I want to go to class and have what the professor says not only benefit my learning, but be rewarded with a better grade reflected.

Yeah - you won't have anything resembling a real professor until your 3rd year, when class sizes start getting much smaller and you get into the real nitty-gritty of your major.

I'm assuming that you're a Poli-Sci major based on your comments, which means that all of your grades will be completely suggestive and based on whether or not your TA/Prof likes you and/or agrees with your point of view. So good luck.

 

[Padinn]

I had a rough semester and RIT and ended up joing ROTC because the military had always interested me.

It was the best experience of my life, even the crappy boot camp part. I met some people who had like-minded goals, they wanted to serve the community, they want to make a difference in the world, they have integrity, and they are mature.

Sadly, I was diagnosed with cancer this year and medically disqualified. However, if you are even slightly thinkign about it, I highly recommend trying out ROTC. There is no permanent commitment unless you decide to stay and you will learn a LOT about leadership and sel discipline.

I wouldn't recommend joining military to further a civilian career. That to me sounds like the "wrong reason." If you like service, then there is nothing better in my opinion.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: Padinn
I had a rough semester and RIT and ended up joing ROTC because the military had always interested me.

It was the best experience of my life, even the crappy boot camp part. I met some people who had like-minded goals, they wanted to serve the community, they want to make a difference in the world, they have integrity, and they are mature.

Sadly, I was diagnosed with cancer this year and medically disqualified. However, if you are even slightly thinkign about it, I highly recommend trying out ROTC. There is no permanent commitment unless you decide to stay and you will learn a LOT about leadership and sel discipline.

I wouldn't recommend joining military to further a civilian career. That to me sounds like the "wrong reason." If you like service, then there is nothing better in my opinion.

When running for an elected office, having military experience can only hurt if I were to kill a bunch of babies and not cover it up well enough.

 

[Padinn]

Oh your absolutely correct, it does look good.

What I'm saying is don't join the military soley to further your political ambitions.

 

[Padinn]

I don't know if the baby killing comment was supposed to come off as a joke, but it came off as rather offensive.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: Padinn
I don't know if the baby killing comment was supposed to come off as a joke, but it came off as rather offensive.

I did not mean to insinuate that any baby killing has occurred or been covered up by politicians, just tried to think of the worst possible thing you could do and would get the public upset at you. By this response it was an accurate choice, although I was myopic in not considering that it could bother you. My apologies.

I believe the military, in a noncombat duty, is something I could enjoy and feel like I was contributing to society. Don't wanna go into a big national security political debate here though

 

[MrChad]

Well, to be honest, even though you complain about your roommate and his anti-social behavior, you sound both arrogant and a bit socially maladjusted from the tone and content of your post.

I firmly believe that college is as much (or perhaps even more) about social development as it is about academic development. Whether it is meeting members of the opposite sex, socializing and drinking at parties or just finding people with common interests, college gives you opportunities socially that you never had in high school and probably never will again in the real world. My situation was a bit different than yours; I was extremely driven in HS and more laid back when I got to college. I ended up having the best 4 years of my life during my time there.

My only advice to you is to look harder for your social niche. If you want to transfer to an "elite" university full of entitlement and privilege, so be it, but I think you can learn a lot from a school where backgrounds are more diverse. Your passion for Habitat is admirable, and I'm sure you can find others with that same motivation.

 

[Brackis]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Well, to be honest, even though you complain about your roommate and his anti-social behavior, you sound both arrogant and a bit socially maladjusted from the tone and content of your post.

I firmly believe that college is as much (or perhaps even more) about social development as it is about academic development. Whether it is meeting members of the opposite sex, socializing and drinking at parties or just finding people with common interests, college gives you opportunities socially that you never had in high school and probably never will again in the real world. My situation was a bit different than yours; I was extremely driven in HS and more laid back when I got to college. I ended up having the best 4 years of my life during my time there.

My only advice to you is to look harder for your social niche. If you want to transfer to an "elite" university full of entitlement and privilege, so be it, but I think you can learn a lot from a school where backgrounds are more diverse. Your passion for Habitat is admirable, and I'm sure you can find others with that same motivation.

MrChad,
I really respect your opinion and can see exactly what it is you saying. I'm definitely saying "I'm better than the actions of my peers here", but do not concede that I'm inherently smarter than most people. The only thing I believe you misinterpreted was the "elite university" as a place of entitlement and priviledge. In my opinion, my current university is the place for the entitled and privileged, while the most difficult universities I mentioned have a far more diverse makeup of people who are from places besides major metropolises or Chicago's wealthy suburbs which requires truly exceptional gifts outside the classroom to be a part of. I'm not trying to say that people who go to random schools are dumb and worthless, I just have had a miserable go of things in trying to find people of character at my particular school.

If I'm not articulating this to you well enough, do not hesitate in letting me know.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Brackis

Originally posted by: Soviet
Dorky roommates suck huh, i was stuck with 4 of them, ruined my 2nd year of uni, hate them with a passion.

How did this affect your overall college career?

My issue is that because he is so incapable of social interaction or activity outside of his laptop, that I don't have that one good buddy who I can hang with in the process of meeting other friends. Obersving the first week or two of college, people generally do things with their roommate, while I didn't. The fact that the other folks on the hall are not pleasant to converse with, I am left with a lack of healthy socialization outside of going to weekend parties sometimes with some folks who live on the other end of campus.

How did it affect my uni career? It made it significantly less fun, and i disputed the point in me being there quite a lot more than in 1st year. I passed all the stuff i needed, but i didnt have a good time, in fact i had a sh*t time, and if i couldve done 2nd year again i wouldve gotten my own flat or went to a different halls, as grades+social life come hand in hand for me, social lifes slightly more imporant as my grades are easy to come by. Not that im particularly smart, just my course is easy, im thinking about finishing up and just becoming a copper, seems far more interesting than anything my course could lead me too.

Anyways, i cant stand anti-social people, as i have the mentality that a sociable person could be in their place and i could be having a lot more fun. You know that loner that would plank himself between you and your best buddy in primary school? Thats how i feel about my waste of space flatmates.

Im wasted when i type this so excuse any spelling mistakes looks sound from here though heh

 

[Jeff7]

I have pondered dropping out numerous times. I think the only thing, or people rather, keeping me in college are my parents and my sister.
I'm already 24, and I'm on my third major, in only my second year at a university. I took 2 years of classes at a community college for Cisco networking. Then I worked for nearly 3 years in retail. Then I went to Penn State for Mechanical Engineering for a year, then made what seems to have been a lateral move to Mechanical Engineering Technology. I'm still not sure if it's the right major for me.

I'm kind of one of those people who doesn't really do anything for fun. The closest things I do to fun are play computer games (Simcity is the latest one, Homeworld 2 before that), watch TV, or kill time on Anandtech. I've never been especially social. If I'm with more than maybe 2 other people, and they start talking, I just feel like clamping my hands over my ears and screaming, "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!". I just can't stand it when multiple people are talking at once. And this campus, probably like most campuses, is designed for social people. The activities, the living arrangements, even some of the homework, is meant to keep everyone in close proximity.
So anyway, this lack of having fun kind of makes it tough for me to find a major. I picked ME/MET because I'm generally good at working with inanimate objects, and I also keep seeing ways of improving existing designs, or just finding better, more efficient ways of doing things. People also tell me that I think about things too much, or I'll overthink things more than anyone else. I'm hoping that that'll be an asset with engineering.

And then there's the idiots with their bass systems that can shake the walls. I'm in a campus apartment, and it does help a little bit, if only due to the fact that there aren't as many people packed in so closely, which reduces the probability of having a loud stereo system nearby. People love to party, starting Thursday nights, which includes wrestling, running, and loud music, all audible courtesy of paper-thin walls and floors. I think that the "social" aspect of this place is what really contributes to me wanting to get the hell out.
Back home, it was quiet. My parents were always big on not making a lot of noise, and it wasn't a really big house, so anyone could hear just about anything anywhere in the house. Plus, I had my own computer room, where I could go and just be alone. I don't have that here. I don't have my quiet, safe, isolated place to be. There are always people around somewhere, or loud noises - I just can't get away, so I'm always at least somewhat on edge. The only times I really calm down are on the weekends, at night, when I can wear earplugs to sleep - can't do that during the week, or else I wouldn't hear my alarm clock. I also can't rely on myself just getting up after a certain amount of time. With earplugs in, I can stay asleep anywhere from 8-14hrs.

Concerning roommates, I haven't had any truly horrible ones yet. I'm with my third roommate now. First roommate, he was my polar opposite. People were his addiction. He loved being around them. But he was also smart, and considerate. He wouldn't bring huge crowds back to the room, since I'd told him about my asocial tendancies. And he tried to avoid being too boisterous around me.
Second roommate - we didn't talk a whole lot. He was a partier. He'd get very drunk every single week, sometimes to the point of throwing up in the trash can. He had friends over, and they'd party out in the livingroom. Sometimes his idiot drunk friends would wander back into the bedroom where I was, and I'd have to redirect them back out to the livingroom. So we really just kind of co-existed - very little talking was done. I just dealt with it as best as I could.
Third roommate - I wouldn't mind rooming with him for the next few years that I'll be here, but he's probably graduating this year, as he's a 5th year senior. He's reasonable, mature, and easygoing. Plus he exercises restraint when drinking. He won't drive if he's just had something to drink, and he doesn't drink to get drunk.

So there are environmental factors which contribute to my stress, which can make it more difficult to deal with the schoolwork. One thing that's helped a bit: Sennheiser HD-280 Pro's. They block out a decent amount of noise, and sound great. I can put them on, take my MP3 player, and go somewhere away from the computer (which can be a tempting distraction) to do homework.

Homework: I do find a lot of it to be simply tedious, and not truly challenging. By that I mean that it strikes me as stuff that an Excel spreadsheet would be good at doing - it's a lot of memorizing equations and plugging in numbers. There are just so many of them, and often they go in series, so if I screw up the first one with some stupid mistake, it botches up all the other answers. Some teachers give partial credit for such mistakes, some don't. You've got to learn the techniques for each teacher, figure out the relative worth of each assignment, and prioritize. I try to finish the most valuable or most difficult assignments first.
I'm not sure what exactly I would find challenging though. I liked the philosophy classes I had at the community college. They require thinking about things that a computer can't do. What I'm trying to say is that, while working on these lengthy assignments can be a challenge, it just doesn't feel challenging. I know that I can do basic algebra, which is most of what these problems require. The equations are derived through calculus, but I don't have to do that, as the equations are given in their final forms. Challenging should push the mind to think in new ways, or to come up with new ideas, not just rehash old information. I just kind of go along with each day, plodding along like I did when I worked at Walmart for 2.5yrs, just hoping that something will look better.
My advice to you (and probably to myself too) - talk to your advisor, or maybe a counselor if they have them on campus. Maybe between you, you can figure out a solution to the problems you face.

 

[boredhokie]

Ohh man I am SO smart, this college just doesn't appreciate my genius intellect! Being a rich boy who never had any real hardships, I feel guilty and enjoy making the motions of being helpful to society (as long as I don't get shot at LOL). Won't someone give me the advice that I'm not really looking for? I have some new words I looked up that I want to use!